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Spider-Man (2002)
Starring Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, and Willem Dafoe. Cinematography by Don Burgess. Edited by Arthur Coburn and Bob Murawski. Produced by Ian Bryce and Laura Ziskin. Written by David Koepp. Directed by Sam Raimi.
Peter Parker is an average teenage boy. One day, on a field trip to a research facility, he is bitten by a genetically enhanced spider that has escaped from its cage. After recovering from a short period of sickness, Peter quickly discovers that the bite has given him strange powers like the ability to climb walls and shoot webs. As he is learning to deal with his new talents, his Uncle Ben is killed by a criminal on the run.
Peter blames himself for the incident and makes a personal oath to never let something like that happen again. Meanwhile, Norman Osborn has been told that the military will be backing out of his “super soldier” project. Desperate to prove himself, Osborn launches the experiment which transforms him into a deadly maniac soon to be known as the Green Goblin.
Spider-Man made his first appearance in the final issue of a short lived comic book titled Amazing Fantasy. The concept was a hit and soon Spider-Man was boasting his own illustrated series. His television debut was on the 1967 animated series “The Amazing Spider-Man” which lasted for three seasons. The first live action Spider-Man came to us via the children’s educational series “The Electric Company” where his adventures were featured as one of show’s many short sketches. In 1978 he appeared in a live action TV series once again titled “The Amazing Spider-Man”.
CBS ran the show as part of their primetime lineup for two seasons. He would return one last time in the early 1980’s with the cartoon “Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends”. In 1986 The Cannon Group purchased the rights to the webslinger and picked Tobe Hooper to direct the first Spider-Man feature film adaptation, but ultimately the project fell through. In the early 1990’s, the rights to Spider-Man went from The Cannon Group, to MGM, and finally to Viacom.
In 1994 James Cameron wrote a screenplay that he was ready to direct, but his effort was eventually shot down as well. Then in 1999 the franchise ended up in the hands of Columbia Pictures who was eager to get a Spider-Man movie off the ground. With a solid script written by screenwriter David Koepp, they began to search for the perfect director for the job. Though many filmmakers were considered, Sam Raimi, a life-long Spider-Man junkie, proved to be everything they were looking for.
Raimi demonstrated with class and style that he was definitely the right filmmaker to take on such a massive and demanding task. Nearly everyone, from hardcore comic book geeks to casual movie goers, flocked to see Spider-Man, and it quickly became the event film of 2002. The film shattered nearly every box office record including the highest grossing weekend, the highest grossing single day, and the fastest movie to reach one hundred million dollars. When its theatrical run had finally came to an end, Spider-Man had made over four hundred million dollars, earning is a spot on the top ten highest grossing films of all time. After a lifetime of making films, Sam Raimi was finally a major Hollywood player.
Budget: $139,000,000
Total US Gross: $403,706,375
Genre: Action
Runtime: 121 Minutes
US Release Date: 5/3/02
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Awards: Academy Awards: Nominated for best sound and best visual effects.
Tagline: Go For The Ultimate Spin.
Quote: “You do too much; college, a job, all this time with me... you're not Superman, you know.”
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